Alive For Yom Kippur - Norfolk Virginia Teshuva Drasha 5784

this Tower class is brought to you by torahanytime.com for only 24 hours before the imacadesh and it's a very busy time and it's really an honor to share a few words with you and really I would never agree to speak before yamakipuram the night before but when my friend gedalia Schwartz asks me to share the very Tyra I can't turn him down um I I I'm not allowed to say uh anything more about kadaya but kedalia is my brother so when your brother asks you to do something there's a that we're in this together okay so that's all I'll say friends I've taken trips in my lifetime my trip now to Norfolk Virginia was the most uneventful destination I ever went to I went to my computer and I turned on zoom and wow boy I was just there I was there the furthest trip I've ever taken I was invited to speak on Australia I had the privilege to uh give shurim Down Under and let me tell you something the uh it's a schlep to go to Australia oh my goodness it's a schlep I actually have a magnet that's uh the shape of Australia it's a yellow map and it says Australia what a schlep first you have to get to Los Angeles and then from there 16 hours all the way to Australia it's a very long trip but just the other week I was invited to speak in Cleveland and I got to the airport and the the flight was scheduled to take off at 2 10 and we're sitting on the runway and they said there's traffic on the runway and then there's weather issues and then we're there on the runway for an hour and they said there's a terrible weather between here and Cleveland I know what they're talking about it's 90 degrees outside it was sunny outside and we're on the runway for two hours and then they said don't worry there's plenty of fuel to get us to Cleveland and then a third hour passes and then they say there's not enough fuel to get us to Cleveland so what do we do we'll go back to the gate and we're upon a guy gets on the flight and he says your flight has been canceled so here it is it's only an hour flight am I still on with uh oh yeah with the show an hour flight and we never even took off we never even got off the Runway so friends travel a trip is fraught with danger impediments obstacles and sometimes you never even take off you never even get there this time of the year especially aravyamakipuram we're all embarking on a very very long journey where are we going what's the destination it's a lot further than Australia by the way it's a lot further than the Sun you know do you know how long it would take if you took an airplane to the Sun that would only take you about 19 years on the planet I don't know about you I get Stir Crazy on the plane I can't sit I get up I Pace what I back and forth I don't know what to do with myself it would only take 19 years to go on the plane to the Sun but I'm not talking about a destination as close as the sun I'm not even talking about a destination as close as the nearest star do you know how long it would take to get to Proxima Centauri the nearest star on a plane it would only take you 73 000 years to get from on an airplane to the nearest star and I'm not talking about a further destination like a further star say Alpha santori which would which is only four light years away so it would only take you about four million years on an airplane to get to Alpha Centauri no I'm not telling you we're not talking about a destination as close as a star I'm talking about traveling to the highest Heavens I'm talking about getting to the kise but here's the good news friends the journey that we're all on that's the Journey of chuva has the energy has the capacity has the fuel to reach all the way to the case of [Laughter] the question is how are we going to get there not every Voyage not every trip is successful sometimes a trip even of an hour is not successful how are we going to get all the way to the case you know friends in life it's important to keep your eyes open because sometimes riban sends you messages and we don't even pick up on it messages in everyday mundane life once spent the night in the shoemaker's house and rabbis well sees it's one o'clock at night it's 2 A.M and the Shoemaker his candle is almost out and he's still working he's still banging away says where we saw cilantro to the Shoemaker why are you working it's still it's so late outside and the Shoemaker almost ignores Ravi Israel and he mutters under his breath as long as the candle is burning you could still mend and for weeks and weeks and weeks so we saw cilantro Was Heard saying to himself as long as the candle is burning you could still mend as long as the candle is burning you could fix you could work you could reconcile with someone you've become estranged with you could give sadaka you could do a mid-slice a massive but we have to know that this approach to life being able to see the messages of Hashem in our daily life this was not the invention of rabiso solanter actually one of the all-time great Heroes of the Jewish people we all know his Origins and his Beginnings were very humble Rabbi Akiva one day he went down to the Riverside and he sees a hole in the stone he sees a hole in the well and he's wondering how is there a hole in the well the well is made out of stone it's formidable it's impenetrable how is there a hole in this in the stone and he sees the water dripping drop after drop after drop and revia Kiva Advanced the following that of water which is soft could penetrate the stone then Toro which is like fire certainly could penetrate my heart Marvel akiva's life changed forever the rest was history he goes back he goes to the Yeshiva he learns for 24 years and if Gaza would not have said it who could say such a thing because I'll tell us reached a level even greater than moisture abdino call yakaras that my shopping only saw 49 levels of wisdom my shabinu how did he turn his life around because he was a massmid no he was nothing at the time he turned his life around because his heart was open his eyes were open you know but here's the million dollar question friends what exactly was so revolutionary by the fact that there's a hole in the Rock I mean that's physics 101 everybody knows water a Face's Stone you go down to every any Riverside all the stones in the river are smooth you go to any Bank the the water cuts and Smooths out the stone what exactly was the big Insight that ravia kivaswa from the hole in the rock is a personality very connected to yamakipuram and let's go through this very quickly Akiva is the Tana who teaches Claus Israel the power of chuva the power of yamakipuram Ravi Akiva is the one who said Israel um is the one who taught us that on Yom Kippur we purify ourselves before by the way the subject of rabi Akiva was so important that every single year called Nidra Knight the Hassam Cipher always spoke about rabi Akiva and always spoke about this mishnah of Israel why was Rivia Kiva so fundamental to yamakipuram that some Cipher always spoke about Ravi Akiva Lael call nidre so here let's just get historical uh some historical information we're all familiar with the gemarais ikiva in defiance of the Romans he taught Tyra publicly and they imprisoned him and they were carrying him out it was this man Christiana and they raked his flesh with Combs of Steel yazan so we envision we imagine it must have been if it was but actually if you look in the Alka chamini the al-q shamani says that it was in jail and he was being serviced by yahushua hagarsi and later on that night ilio anavi came to rabishua hagarsi and Elio said Rabbi Akiva died foreign that means that Rabia Kiva died on Yom Kippur Yom Kippur is the yard side of rabi Akiva furthermore that means Yom Kippur Knight lail Yom Kippur is the yard side of rabi Akiva that means when the gemara says he was he was killed BisMan Christian Arvis it is well known that there was a reshine by the name of rabbitra Kavina and he was working on the sugya of how to spell names forget them and he didn't know how do you spell the name Akiva is it spelled ayen kuf you advise hey or ayanve aleph and in a dream he saw the pasok Ohio and he was wondering why is he being shown this pasak and he realized he is being shown this pasok because this is rebe Akiva Akiva and he learned from this you spell Akiva with the hey at the End by the way we don't pass in that way we spell it explains in achuva that originally his name was Akiva within hey and then he died saying and that aleph transplanted the hay which means LEL Yom Kippur is the yard side of rabi Akiva says that's why we kick off Yom Kippur and we say ahoyers why it's a secret husband foreign wanted to invoke and evoke the Merit of rabi Akiva the night of his yard side so friends he was he did the greatest repentance and active chuvan history of the world he went from being a simple Shepherd boy to being catapulted higher than my shopping he probably has something to teach us about Yom Kippur and indeed Rabbi Akiva comes and he says I am and Ravi Akiva called stupsoke Israel Hashem and the question is to invoke tupsukim surapam would always like to say over the name of the son of yutuka that there are two types of Purity a purification there's a purification of a Mikvah purification of amikvah you dunk in the Mikvah your tivol and the Mikvah what would be if one finger is sticking out of the Mikvah it's completely ineffective what if your tip of your nose is sticking out of the Mikvah it's an ineffective Fila what if a hair was sticking out of the Mikvah it doesn't do anything it's All or Nothing but there's another type of purification the purification of the Miami of the purifying Waters and the purifying Waters if even one little part of your body comes into even the slightest contact with the purifying Waters you're a Taha you're pure likewise the son of yes there's two types of chuva one kind of chuva is the fully immersive chuva what's the fully immersive chuva a fully immersive chuva is when you say okay this year I'm going to be a new person I'm not gonna do any of Heroes I'm going to be fully dedicated that's chuva analogous to amikvah but sometimes that type of chuva seems far and remote but there's another kind of chuva and this chuva perhaps is more accessible to us perhaps this chuva is more relevant to us and that is let's say for example a person says you know I have a lot of things to work on but you know come to think of it I make so many brachas a day I make a hundreds a day I don't even think any of them are good you know come to think of it I never stop and think when I say hashem's name he's the master of everything he was is and he will be you know I never think about that I would like to do that for all my brothers this year I'm going to take one bracha day maybe the first Brach I make in the morning my first cup of water my first cup of coffee and I'm gonna say Baruch and I'm gonna be makhaven hashem's name am I correcting all of my three hundred thousand Brothers I'm making a year not really but did I accomplish something significant yes I achieved tahara I did the chuva analogous to the Miami I did the chuva analogous I didn't yet go in the Mikvah one day I'm gonna go to the Mikvah one day I'm gonna do villain Israel Hashem but right now where I'm at I'm gonna take you know I really should be learning more I really every night I should be learning two hours Sunday morning I should be learning three hours but maybe I'm not doing that yet or maybe I'm not ready to do that yet maybe after a long day of work I'm I'm just bummed I can't learn an hour but I could learn five more minutes there's no reason I can't learn navi for five minutes there's no reason I can learn a mishna a night so this year I'm gonna touch the Miami I'm Gonna Learn an extra few minutes a night I'm Gonna Learn an extra 10 minutes on Sunday is it a complete transformation no am I a barrier hadasha no but I changed myself now I'm going to tell you something big but very small with one small Act you could change your life from 20 to 2000 don't bring your phone into usual do not bring your phone into a salon I'll tell you what this will mean for you and for the Jewish people see when you bring your phone into shul you're saying to Hashem I am not going to be davening to you this Fila no I don't really want to dab it now because what's davening davening is serving Hashem with all your heart say Hashem I don't even plan on making an attempt to serve you with all my heart you see I'm bringing in this device that occupies probably at least 70 percent of my attention so I maybe I'll do other Mitzvahs in my lifetime maybe I'll take a little of an S reg but davening won't be one of them because the definition of davening is to give it your all to Hashem now I might not be doing it but at least if you don't have the phone on you you're making an attempt to do it you're saying tashem I would like to pray with all my heart but if you bring it into the show the message is I don't want to dive in with all my heart but if you leave that phone in the car if you leave that phone in the car you're saying Hashem I would like to dive into you with all my heart now I'm going to say an even more another important thing if you don't need that phone don't even bring it in the car on the way to shul you know how we say in the vase I I'm walking to the house of Hashem with great feeling did you know that walking to school is also an Avida it's putting yourself in the frame of mind when you walk to shul of course a person thinks of the Shea Schmitz voice to Medias you know when you walk to show for chakras you know how many incredible things you could do you could think I'm going to show today who created the world who controls everything that happens in the world there's no other Hashem Hashem has no other parts it's a Mitzvah to love Hashem it's a mixer to fear Hashem it's a Mitzvah not to stray after your heart after your eyes that's six if you do that every day you've just added 2 000 extra a year and then on the way to show you could say and you could say I have kavana then whenever I say hashem's name it should be with the intention of Adam whenever I say I like him it should be with the intention you know what else you could do on the way to Chul you could say I connect myself to chuva you could do chuva and then so you walk into shul and you're a clean slate but the it's a heart says no you gotta take your phone on the way to shul so that you could lose those moments you could lose the moments of preparation to going to show you see what we're up to not forget even the phone in the show on the way to show you don't need it there's small things you could do you can increase you could revolutionize your life if you have a few extra moments on the way to shul every time you want to reach for your phone say you know what I'm gonna do chuva this is the chuva of rabi Akiva but the question is friends how did Rabia Kiva know this from where did rabi Akiva learn that even chuva analogous to visarakti alaikum is a valid form of chuva I mean wouldn't you have thought only an immersive chuva like a Mikvah is a chuva from where did he learn that every drop of chuva is valuable let's come back to rabikiva at the well salanter teaches you know what was the beginning learned from the water making a hole in the well everybody knows water makes a hole in the well rabikiva learned a very big himself Ravi Akiva learned you know he learned in Ahmad of gumara and then he looked himself in the mirror he says Akiva do you feel any different than you did yesterday you're the same lowly Shepherd and after davening rabikiva looked at himself he said Akiva you didn't grow from that Fila do you feel any different no I don't feel any different so rabi Akiva felt he wasn't really making any progress but what robikiva's mistake was that even when you don't see yourself growing and you don't see the progress you're making there's a marked difference every time you learn a line every time you offer a sincere trilah every time you make a proper bracha something happens to you you know how Ruby Cuba knew that because rabikiva sees each drop and there was no discernible difference or the second drop from the third drop from the fourth drop but obviously every drop was making a difference because if it wasn't there wouldn't be a hole in the Stone I guess when I learn and I do midsource it's making an impact on me and if I go back to the Yeshiva maybe not tomorrow maybe not in a week maybe not in a few months but one day I'm gonna be a different person rebia Kiva learned from the water dripping on the stone every small droplet of progress makes a world of a difference makes a significant difference cervikiva says if even each drop on the well makes such a powerful difference rabikiva turns around and he says to Claus Israel learned from the well so basically in a split moment just by seeing the water dripping on the stone rebia Kiva changed the course of his life and you know what he changed the course of history because all the Torah we have today comes from rabi Akiva says the gemara and sanhedron that is everything comes from Ruby Akiva so literally aliba means in accordance with rabihuda but Ramos Shapiro says that the word aliba could be interpreted differently aliba come in on the heart of all the Torah we have is because there'll be Akiva saw from the water dripping on the well that if if the water could penetrate the stone the Torah could penetrate his heart all the tire we have today is aliba durabi Akiva is on the heart of rabi Akiva by drop comes of Samsung and he presents an astounding gumatria from China says reaches the Throne of Glory Shiva reaches the Throne of Glory presents a new type of gamatria here's an example of it it says moisha explained the Torah barah hey Dave and Rashi says what's hey Dave hey Dave is 70 languages so the Rebellion asks how does Rashi see that much should translate the Torah in 70 languages so he says he sees it from the Gamache of the word how does he see it from hey Dave hey David seventy hate Davis gamachia 70. I'm sorry hey David's about you at 26. take the hay and you add hey yud so hey is five hey Yoda is another 15 then hey your tests that's 24 and then hey your test vase 26 5 15 24 26 70. so you basically take the first letter the first two letters the first three letters the four letters 70. so says says take the cuff 20.80 106.108 114.18 you add it all up 713 chuva that's very nice kise equals chuva but it only equals chuva in this bizarre Gematria why does it only equal chuba in this bizarre Gematria says because yes chuva reaches the kise but you know how it's going to get there one droplet at a time first the cuff then the cuff then the cups little by little drop after drop that's how the chuva is gonna reach the kise [Applause] so I want to share with you a personal story uh the beginning of hello I had this close to to teach harayaki kala in Panama and they took me to one of the Seven Wonders of the World the Panama Canal which is really amazing it's not for the Panama Canal if a ship wants to go from New York to California it could take weeks and weeks and weeks it would have to go all the way down the East Coast of United States down the east coast of South America around the Cape Horn the tip of South America and all the way back up it would take many many weeks but now right through Panama Atlantic to Pacific the problem is the Atlantic and Pacific water levels are not the same to get one ship from the Atlantic to Pacific Panama Canal has to lift up a ship 85 feet in the air so you say is that difficult it's impossible there are no cranes in the world that can lift up a ship 85 feet you know how heavy your ship is some of the ships are over a hundred thousand tons a hundred thousand did you know that did you know that the Norwegian Cruise Line was 168 000 tons 000 tons so how are you gonna lift it up 85 feet in the air the answer is you know what they do they use the most powerful substance in the world they use mayam and they flood the area on the canal and all of a sudden the ship lifts up up up up up it floats on the water and I said to myself what would rabi Akiva have said if he saw the Panama Canal maybe rabi Akiva would have made the following water which is so soft it could Elevate 168 000 pounds in the air well sometimes I feel heavy I feel bogged down I feel sullied I feel so low I say what's gonna be with me I'm just a lowly Shepherd what's my future have what could I become so everykiva would say if my aim could lift up a Norwegian Cruise liner 85 feet in the air and it's lifting up 168 000 tons imagine if I immersed myself in the Torah imagine how high the Torah could Elevate me you know how high you could rise you could rise all the way to the kise do you know how you're gonna get there one little bit at a time even to take a few areas in a person's life and not say I'm going to make a complete overhaul this year it could be a matter of minutes I'm going to learn X minutes more I'm Gonna Come a minute earlier today you know what kind of revolutionary change that can make to your life I'm gonna speak Russian horror one Shabbos meal a week I'm not gonna speak Russian Hara or from between the fish to the children I'm gonna be Zohar La shanhara nah that's nothing well the rest of the week it will change your life because you're making a drip and that trip will bring to another and eventually the Mayim tahiram will bring you to the oymer Israel Hashem that's the Mikvah of kalystra that's the hope of Claud Israel you start with the visaractia and ultimately it brings the person to chuva shlema but here's the thing here's the good news I'll end off with one story I was telling you I was going to Cleveland the other week and my experiences that never Chuck in luggage when in an airplane you know what it's analogous to it's analogous to bits basically you're saying that your luggage yeah they have a Hefner I don't mind if I never see it again because it's 50 50 whether you ever see your luggage again sometimes they send it to different countries different states sometimes they keep it as long as you don't need your luggage no problem check it in so I was going to Cleveland and I figured there's no way I'm checking in my luggage I already had twice went to different locations and they sent my luggage to Orlando even though I was going to the other end of the world so my wife got me a nice wheelie a Samsonite wheelie and I'm going to Cleveland I'm spending the night but what do I need already I'm not checking anything in I had three items with me I had a hat box I had my knab sack with my notes in it and I had this wheelie my Towson filling wasn't in some personal items I was gonna bring on the plane it was a very hot day I go through security I need a drink I get a water I'm sitting by the gate I have my hat box I have my knapsack where's my wheelie my wheelie what's in my wheel is my notes in my Wheeling I have my notes on me my talison's fill in all I can't believe I did that where is it I ran back to the concession stand no they don't have it they said you can't leave luggage unattended a luggage unattended they take away I don't know what they do they blow it up or something I said oh I must have left insecured I run back to square going one conveyor belt no wasn't there another conveyor that wasn't there and they're in the middle of the conveyor belts there's a table my luggage was sitting there on a untouched for 30 minutes I was very grateful to Hashem as I mentioned I sat on the runway for three hours I ended up giving the sheer to Cleveland on Zoom and I'm thinking to myself if the share was canceled what do I need why did I have to go through this whole thing to sit on the runway and to lose my luggage and it hit me that Hashem was sending a very powerful message you know I was able to find my luggage because I didn't leave the airport but if I would have flown to Cleveland and then remembered oh where's my my suitcase the likelihood of me being reunited with my luggage in a timely fashion or even at all was very little but the reason I was able to get my suitcase is because I was still in the airport and if you're still in the airport you have a fighting shot of finding your lost suitcase and this highlights what the opportunity we have right now Hashem were all alive and for a live we're still in the airport and we could still go back and think about things we've done in our life and correct them and reconcile and do chuva and repent and try to do things better and regret our misdeeds if you're still here in this world you could still mend as long as the candle is burning you could still work but once you leave the airport you're not going to find your lawsuit case and if you're lucky enough to have the opportunity tomorrow to have a young makipuram you have to say to Ibana I'm alive I'm still in the airport I can still do something you know why we eat tomorrow because there are various that you can't do true before you need Yom Kippur you know that if you violate and I say you could do chuva and you could remove the assay but if you violate a love you need chuva and Yom Kippur so tomorrow we celebrate Baruch Hashem I made a team Kippur I'm still in the airport once Yom Kippur is over we don't necessarily know how many opportunities more we're going to have but we make it to tomorrow says I'm still in the airport I'm gonna do something about my lost suitcase I'm gonna fix up my mistakes that's the privilege we have that's the closest we have that's the opportunity we have like Israel it's the happiest day of the year thank you so much for listening I wish you all again this year is uh dedicated and to all those awaiting their zivu game thank you very much you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com